


home (is wherever i'm with you)

by borrowedthemoonlite



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Road Trip, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Graduation, Retrospective, Road Trips, Summer, Summer Vacation, feel free to listen along, inspired by home by edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, more reflection than plot so sorry if that disappoints you but it's my fic i get to make the rules, technically it was the cover by chill the duo but oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27317953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borrowedthemoonlite/pseuds/borrowedthemoonlite
Summary: The summer after graduation, Beck and Jade take a road trip.  Or, Beck and Jade reflect on what they mean to each other.
Relationships: Beck Oliver/Jade West
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	home (is wherever i'm with you)

**Author's Note:**

> ...So I know I haven't updated my actual ongoing fic since AUGUST, but I think I've just run into a bit of a writer's block. Don't worry though, I haven't given up on these two, I'm always working on stuff with them, but I've just not been happy enough with them to post. But I've wanted to write this fic for MONTHS and I kept telling myself not to do it because I have so many other WIPs, but this just wouldn't leave my head so I gave in and wrote it. Hope you enjoy.

It started off as a road trip to Joshua Tree, Jade had wanted to see the namesake of one of her mom’s favorite albums, maybe scatter her ashes around. But he’s also positive that they both knew it was always going to be more than Joshua Tree. Sure, he wasn’t expecting an entire cross country road trip, but part of him has always known that there’s no tying Jade down, she’s the kind of person that’s just meant to be free, and that’s what makes her who she is. And how could he love her without being in love with her spirit?

Jade kept up the guise of it being a Joshua Tree trip up to the day they left. Or at least, to her dad. And technically, she hadn’t lied, they _did_ go to Joshua Tree. It just wasn’t _only_ Joshua Tree. Their friends knew, of course. Cat had been at Beck’s at 7 am to see them off, along with Robbie and Andre.

He took the first driving shift, he knew she preferred driving at night. That and the fact he could still see the sleepiness in her eyes. So he took up the wheel and let her sleep.

Beck Oliver had been in love before, but it had never been like this. 

There had been Suzannah Andrews from back in Canada, she was his Kindergarten Girlfriend. It didn’t really mean anything other than giving each other dandelions they had picked during recess and sometimes holding hands during snack time, but the memories are still nice to have. They’re something of childhood innocence. He hasn’t seen Suzannah in ages and he’s sure he would’ve completely forgotten about her if his mom hadn’t taken a picture of them at their Kindergarten Graduation. 

He’d also had a crush on his babysitter when he was 7. Her name was Alana, and she brought cool movies and good snacks. It was infatuation at most, and a fleeting one at that. But it still counted for all he cared. 

There’d also been Hadiqa Khan, she had gone to acting camp with him the summer after sixth grade and he’d liked her in the way 11 year olds did, never a real relationship, more of a hormonal mess of emotions. He never heard from her again after the summer, but she’d quickly kissed him at the end of camp, right before running to her dad’s car. It was good for 12 years old, if he’s keeping track.

And then there’s Jade. Jade, who’s so strongly woven into his past, present, and future, who’s in almost everything he does. Not that anyone ever asks, but if they did, he’d tell them that Jade was his first love. Sure, he’d had his history of infatuations, but when he fell in love with Jade, it was the first time he felt what real love was. She’d moved to Los Angeles all the way from The Hamptons at the beginning of eighth grade. And he knew instantly that she’d be part of his life. He didn’t know exactly what it meant at the time, but he knew that she was going to be someone important. Falling in love just happened to be a corollary. She was the kind of person his life had been missing, the kind of person that he needed to know. Jade, who his entire self said yes to before he even knew it. Jade, who he could never get tired of. Jade, who he’d be content with just laying with for eternity. Jade, who’d impacted his life so prominently and so significantly that it was hard to fathom.

He spares himself a glance to his right, only daring to look away from the wheel for a few seconds. Jade had kicked off her sneakers almost as soon as she’d gotten into the seat and had curled up, asleep against the window. A flare of warmth and overwhelming love spreads through him. He knows what everyone thinks, but for as long as he can remember, Jade has always been his anchor. He’s positive he would follow her into the depths of hell itself if she so much as asked him to.

Beck Oliver has never loved anyone like Jade West, and that’s the fact of the matter.

* * *

Jade West had never felt more _alive_ than she had until this trip. There was just something so freeing about warm air whirling through rolled down windows while racing down an empty desert highway. The world felt like it was theirs and only theirs, and if she’s completely honest, she doesn’t think she’d object to the world being just them for the rest of her life.

Earlier they had driven the truck into some empty stretch of desert and parked on the side of an idle road. They’ve been here for about a half hour, staring up at the midnight sky, reclined in the back of the pickup. She turns to look over at Beck, only to find that he’s fallen asleep. She softly laughs to herself, he’s always been the sleepier one of them, she shouldn’t be surprised. The sound of his breathing, soft and low, was oddly soothing. She reaches up to play with his hair, not wanting to wake him. She’ll wake him when it’s time for them to drive back, but for now, he can sleep. 

Jade’s always been anything but a soft person, she knows it. Although that doesn’t mean she’s completely averse to any form of vulnerability. It might not be the easiest for her to express, but it’s in her somewhere, Beck knows that. That’s why he’s not scared of her, she thinks. She’s never bothered to ask, not out of fear, but because she’s never found the need to. After all, when everyone walks on eggshells around you, finding the one person who’s not afraid to cross through is a big deal.

Now, Jade had never considered herself a particularly lucky person, _hell_ , a week ago, she had just scattered her mom’s ashes through a desert at only 18 years old. But she’d still consider it lucky that she had someone along for the ride with her. Maybe it would have hurt more if her mom’s passing was still fresh in her mind, but after two years of mourning, it was less of a fresh wound and more of a dull ache.

But the road trip had afforded her some clarity and she’s starting to realize that maybe she _is_ lucky after all. Or at least, she’s lucky enough to be in love with her best friend.

She knows that everyone defaults to believing that Cat’s her best friend, and of course, she loves Cat, but god _damn_ she’d be wrong if she said her best friend wasn’t Beck. It would be unfair to reduce Beck’s role in her life to Just Boyfriend. No, no, he’s been with her through too much to be anything less than boyfriend _and_ best friend.

But if she didn’t know that already, this would’ve been the trip that defined it for her.

Last night they’d stopped at some campgrounds for their last night in New Mexico. They’d lugged the firewood from the back of the truck and set up a bonfire despite the fact that it was already stifling out. At some point during the night, Beck had taken out his guitar, he’d been trying to learn for ages, and after watching him struggle through a C7 chord, she gave in, leaned over, and took matters into her own hands, taking his hand in hers and positioning his fingers in the right formation for the chord. (She’d learned how to play ages ago, her older brother had taught her.) His face twisted in frustration, she could tell he was struggling to keep his hand there. She placed a quick kiss on the crown of his head with an affirmation that he’d get there eventually and got up from her seat, stretching her arms far above her head as the glow from the flames played shadows across her torso. He put the guitar aside, his frustration quickly dissipating. She extended her hand, pulling him up with her and drawing him in for another kiss. He grinned, his hands playing on her waist and for once in such a _damn long_ time, she felt content.

No, she might not be the luckiest person. But she knows that not everyone’s fortunate enough to be completely and utterly in love with their best friend to the point that she is. She could scream it into the void _just_ how much she loves him and she thinks that maybe, this is the universe’s way of throwing her a bone. That somehow it sees the harsh facade she puts up for herself to protect her from all the cruelty of life and decides that she deserves a break once in a lifetime and sends her reprieve in the form of Beck Oliver. The only person who could make her laugh until her ribs ached and cracked with hilarity.

* * *

“Beck?” She mutters in his ear, adjusting the grip she has on his shoulders.

“Yeah?” He whispers back, looking up at her. He had woken up a short while ago, although it could’ve been anywhere from fifteen minutes to two hours, she’s lost track of all time by now, but instead of getting up, they’d continued to lie there in each other's grasps.

“Do you miss home?” She asks. It had occurred to her a short while ago, that Beck has a stronger connection, a stronger affinity, to home than she does. That just because she loves the freedom provided, he might not. “Because I never really asked you. If you were okay with leaving for this long, I mean.”

“No, I don’t miss home,” he says deliberately. “Don’t worry, if I didn’t want to stay away from home this long I would’ve told you.”

“Good.”

After a few moments of silence, she frowns, breaking her silence once again, “Wait, why not?” She knows how much he loves his sisters and parents, if anything could tear him away from them, it would mean something was wrong. She hasn’t noticed anything off as of late, but that doesn’t stop the concern from creeping through her.

“Because I’m with you.” He replies, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> Idk, this was a new writing style for me and because there wasn't much dialogue it was kinda weird? I normally don't write like this, so this was fun to experiment with. I hope it didn't disappoint :) Like I said in the tags, this is inspired by Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, but specifically the cover by Chill the Duo, and I really hope it came through? I'm not 100% sure, but that was def where I got the concept from, so feel free to listen along if you'd like!
> 
> Come find me on tumblr: borrowedthemoonlite.tumblr.com


End file.
